Combination snake and plunger

ABSTRACT

A combination snake and plunger, in an integral body, wherein the snake feeds through an aperture in the plunger cup, allowing use, as a plunger, a snake, or a combination device, for removing clogs from drains. The present invention includes a feed mechanism for the snake; a spool for snake storage; a hose adaptor to clean the snake and add hydraulic pressure; and a crank-wheel to re-spool the snake.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF INVENTION

This invention relates to tools and equipment, specifically to toolsused for the maintenance of plumbing systems. This invention is acombination snake and plunger, designed to be practical, easy-to-use,and hygienic.

Both residential and commercial plumbing systems are prone to clogging.With the advent of low-flow toilets over the past decade, this problemhas become more common-place. The tools to fix the problem, though, haveremained relatively static. When a plumbing system becomes clogged, itcan be fixed by using either a plunger or a snake. Plungers are morefrequently used than snakes. Plungers can unclog toilets in mostcircumstances. However, for larger clogs, or for more difficult todislodge clogs, a snake may be needed.

A traditional plunger is comprised of a rubber cup mounted on the end ofa pole or stick. The plunger works by placing the rubber cup over theopening in the toilet. The plunger is forced, up and down, alternately,elevating the hydraulic pressure in the water between the plunger cupand the clog while the plunger is forced down, and reducing thehydraulic pressure in the water while the plunger is being pulled up.The cycling hydraulic pressure loosens the clog, until the matterclogging the toilet is dislodged. A plunger will only remove minorclogs, which are relatively easy to dislodge. A plunger is usually onlycleaned by rinsing it in a clean toilet, once the clog has been removed.

A snake is comprised of a flexible piece of wound metal, which can beforced down the opening of a toilet or a drain. The snake dislodges theclog by penetrating it, mechanically breaking the clog apart. A snakecan remove more difficult or stubborn clogs. Most snakes come on spools.The snake is usually forced down the toilet by hand. The snake can alsobe twisted, to help it go around curves in the plumbing system. Thesnake can then be retracted by using a crank or lever to rewind it onthe spool. The use of a snake often leaves the bathroom withcontaminated toilet water splashed on the floor, toilet base andcabinetry, due to the physic of re-winding the snake on a coil. Clearly,the snake itself is contaminated with fecal water, and it is difficultto properly rinse a coiled snake.

The plunger and the snake are imperfect solutions to most commercial andresidential plumbing clogs. The plunger is ineffective on some clogs.The snake is unhygienic and difficult to use.

The present invention overcomes the limitations of the current tools bycombining them in a single tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective, transparent view of the present invention,showing the internal workings of the invention 1.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the present invention, showing the plungerportion 8, the snake portion 10, the handles for the plunger 20, 6, thesqueeze handle for feeding the snake 3, and the hand-crank to retractthe snake 22, 7.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the present invention, showing the plungerportion 8, the snake portion 10, the handles for the plunger 20, 6, thesqueeze handle for feeding the snake 3, and the hand-crank to retractthe snake 22.

FIG. 4 shows the bottom, exterior view of the present invention, withthe snake 10 coming out of the center of the plunger 8.

DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

The present invention 1 is a combination plunger 8 and snake 10. Theinvention comprises a combination snake and plunger, in an integral body21. Using the two symmetrical handles 6, 20, the user can use theinvention as a conventional plunger. Using the squeeze handle on top 3,the user can feed the snake 10, 13 down the toilet. The snake can beretracted using the hand-crank 7, 22. The invention has a hose opening30 to create hydraulic pressure and to rinse the snake 10 and plunger 8.

The bottom part of the present invention is a traditional plunger cup 8,except that the center of the cup has an aperture 14 for the snake 10,13. The tight fit of the aperture to the snake, along with the seal ofthe plastic body, minimizes hydraulic loses. Using the hose connection30 to attach a hose will create additional hydraulic pressure.

The plunger is held to the body of the invention with a collar 12. Thecollar 12 can be design to attach the plunger cup 8 to the body 21either using fasteners, adhesives, ultra-sonic welding, or integralmolding.

The body of the invention 21 can be made of any rugged plastic, througha variety of manufacturing processes, including, but not limited to,injection molding, thermo-forming, gas injection molding, andover-molding. The body will mostly likely be constructed in two halves,allowing for the assembly of the interior mechanism 17, 16, 19, 15,before sealing the body. The body 21 can also be produced byover-molding the body 21 around the interior assembly.

The snake mechanism 10, 13, 16, 18 is interior to the rugged plasticbody 21. The snake mechanism originates on a reel 22. The snake connectsto a feed mechanism 17 and extends downward through the body of theinvention 15, 16, 19, and through the upper aperture 14. The snake,itself, is of standard construction 10, 13, 16, 18. The snake is aflexible, wound-metal, narrow-diameter tube 10, 13, 16, 18.

In the preferred embodiment, the snake is fed into the toilet throughthe interaction of the upper rubber portion 5, the interior metalstabilizer or stanchion mechanism 15, 17, 19, and the squeeze-handleportion 3. The metal stanchion 15, 19 centers the snake-feed mechanism16. The user then, manually, compresses the upper rubber portion 5.Compression of the upper rubber portion 5 forces an additional length ofsnake 10, 13 through the aperture 14. By releasing the squeeze handle 3,the user will cause the feed-mechanism 17, 19, 15, to “relax”, thuskeeping the snake 10, 13 stationary while the upper rubber portionexpands 5. The user can feed addition snake 18 off the reel 7 byrepeating the process. Of course, many different methods of self-feedingthe snake through such an invention exist.

When feeding a snake 10 into a toilet, often time, the snake can becomestuck when going around tight bends in the plumbing system.Traditionally, this is overcome by rotating the snake in the toilet. Therotating motion allows the wound-metal snake to pivot on a narrowerbending radius, allowing it to “snake” past the bend in the plumbing.The best mode of the present invention has a mechanism that will rotatethe snake. The upper ring 23 is attached to a mechanism 17 that rotatesthe length of snake 10 that has been fed down into the toilet. Theresults of using this mechanism are analogous to twisting a traditionalsnake, by hand. To activate the upper ring 23, the user slides theactivation button 4 while the squeeze handle is squeezed 3. Now, byrotating the upper ring 23, the snake 10, 13 will rotate, making thewound metal tighten to a narrower diameter. The narrower diameter willallow the snake to bend in a tighter bending radius.

Once the clog is removed, the best mode of the present invention has acrank-wheel 22 that will re-coil 7 the snake. The user can leave thesnake and plunger combination, in situ, and can crank the wheel 22. Thesnake will re-coil on the storage coil 7 while the plunger portion 8prevents any fecal water from being splashed by the retracting snake.

The best mode of the present invention also includes a hose attachment30 that serves two purposes. By connecting a standard water hose andturning on the water, the snake portion 10 will be rinsed as it isretracted. Second, the hose connection 30 allows the user to createadditional hydraulic pressure. The heightened hydraulic pressure willassist in dislodging certain types of clogs, if the user wishes. When nohose is attached, a spring securely closes the hose fitting 30, so thatthe combination snake and plunger 1 is hydraulically sealed.

We claim:
 1. A combination snake and plunger in an integral body.
 2. Theinvention from 1, in which the snake is confined to the inside of anintegral body and is fed through an aperture in the plunger cup.
 3. Theinvention from 2, in which the snake is fed through the aperture, eithermanually or automatically, by an internal feed-mechanism.
 4. Theinvention from 2, in which the snake is stored on a coil, interior tothe integral body.
 5. The invention from 4, in which the snake can bere-coiled by use of a hand-crank.
 6. The invention from 1, in whichthere is also a hose attachment to feed water into the integral body. 7.The invention from 1, in which there is a mechanism to allow the snaketo be rotated while it is being fed into the plumbing system.